The Fruitful Branch

to people who would take their
Bibles, turn back once again to the gospel of John. We have been several weeks in
this passage, which has been called a biblical allegory or
a parable. It is an illustration, and Jesus
takes divine liberty in using an illustration really to speak
about himself. And we have been already much
profited by this illustration. What Christ does here is invite
us in to a divine vineyard. We’ve called it Divine Acres,
and I’m pointing to different features of this vineyard that
the Lord invites us to view. It is as if we’ve walked up to
the hedge, to the wall that surrounds the vineyard, invited, mind you,
and given opportunity to watch the vineyard in operation. And
we’ve already seen that there is a choice vine, the best vine
that money can buy, better, far than any other vines in all the
kingdom. We’ve also seen that there is
a skillful, Caretaker a vine dresser that is tending to the
vine with the utmost care and precision And we see that there
are vines there are branches rather on the vine that Some
that bear fruit and some that are troubled some that are broken
some that are damaged and diseased and Need to be removed. We’re watching the vineyard in
operation We see that ultimately it is
all for the vinedresser’s glory. It is all for God’s glory. If God’s people would once again
go back to verse 1 as we take the parable in full. Jesus said,
I am the true vine and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch
in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. And every branch
that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because
of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in
you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you
unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in
him, he bears much fruit. For apart from Me, you can do
nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me,
he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather
them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide
in Me, and My words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and
it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this,
that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”
We began several weeks ago by looking at this vineyard. We’re here by invitation. We’re
given the opportunity to view the vineyard, and we see it in
full. And the first thing that we saw
was the vine where Jesus said, I am the true vine. He is everything. And we saw that Christ is everything
from our Savior to our mediator. He is our provider, our king.
He is everything, as we’ll view more in a moment. We also saw
that this vine dresser is the most skilled, the most careful
and caring. And he is attending to this vine
as an heirloom plant, one that is treated with the utmost care
and precision. And he does so for the purpose
of bringing forth fruit. And now finally, Jesus having
laid the groundwork of this incredible vineyard. Now He comes finally
to the instruction that all along He has been building towards,
the instruction for His particular disciples. And now He invites
us to consider the functioning of the vineyard. We’ve seen some
of the features. We’ve seen the vine. We’ve seen
the vine dresser. We’ve met him and we’ve even
been forecasted that there are branches and the branches related
to the vine are the disciples themselves. But now he invites
us in and he drives home the point as we see the functioning
vineyard beginning in verse 4. And I want to take you to consider,
first of all, this morning, the fruit-bearing branch. There are
two. There is the fruit-bearing branch,
which is pruned and ultimately bears more fruit. And we considered
the Father’s hand in that last week. It almost doesn’t make
sense there at the end of verse 2. Every branch that bears fruit,
He prunes. so that it may bear more fruit.
Those of us who have gardened know the illustration that if
we want a plant to function in its maximum capacity, we must
trim it back. We must reduce the branch growth. Otherwise, the fruit will not
get the energy that it needs to grow and flourish. And so he comes to verse 4 and
to the fruit-bearing branch to consider first. And He gives
us first what I would call the Christian’s admonition. And I
say that this is the Christian’s admonition because He is not
offering this to those who do not know Christ and suggesting
that in some way if they only worked harder to bear fruit,
if they only did more, if they only became more righteous in
and of themselves. If they only did more works,
they too would be a fruit-bearing branch. And they would be spared
from the pruner’s knife. It’s not the case. Just as Jesus
said to the disciples in verse 3, you are already clean. The
only ones to whom Jesus is speaking here in verses 4 and 5 are those
who are in Christ. Those who already know Christ. Those who have already borne
fruit and been pruned and been ready to produce even more fruit. This is the Christian’s admonition. Look at verse 4. The Christian’s
admonition, abide in me and I in you. It’s important to note,
first of all, that there is no verb in the second clause. It’s
implied from the first verb, abide. It just says, abide in
me and I in you. Now, I want you to know that
some have suggested that the first clause is conditional. And the second clause would be
then the result. It would read something like
this, and perhaps some of your translations even have it. Abide
in me, or if you abide in me, I will abide in you. There’s
an exchange taking place. If you are faithful, if you latch
hold of the vine and refuse to let go, if you remain faithful,
I will abide in you. Now that translation is possible. but it doesn’t make any theological
sense. Imagine the horror of knowing
that our entire continuance in our journey in this life towards
heaven depended completely on us. That’s horrific, right? We can’t
imagine the idea that we would have to maintain hold on God
throughout all the trials and all the heartache and all the
difficulty. It’s the other way around, isn’t it? God maintains
hold of us. He laid hold of us and He maintains
hold of us regardless of our flitting tendencies. We wouldn’t
last a day or an hour or a minute And so there is no if-then proposition
here in verse 4, and we’re glad of that, right? And while the
verb in the first clause, abide, could be possibly translated
plainly as an indicative, you do abide, almost as it is stating
a fact, it should be translated as an imperative. a command,
abide, do this. And with that, with that first
clause translated as an imperative, that begs the question, how then
would we translate the second verb, the one that’s missing
altogether? That verb too is an imperative
and it would read something like this. You abide, do this in me
and see to it that I abide in you. There is great responsibility
here, saints. God has already done the saving. and he is in the process of doing
the sanctifying and ultimately will accomplish our glorification
as we have seen. But it’s not as if we can be
completely passive, as if we can just sit back and say, okay
God, do your thing. Make me right. Clean me up. Glorify me. Let me know when
you’re done. That is not the attitude of the
Christian. In fact, it is flat unbiblical. What Jesus tells his disciples
to do here does not contradict the rest of scripture. In fact,
it is perfectly aligned with it. You abide in me and thereby
see that I abide in you. Abiding in Christ is our duty. It is by God’s grace that we
do abide. And that makes the second portion
of that command. In short, we abide in Christ. That is our duty. And if we do,
he abides in us. We see to it by abiding in him. Now before I say even another
word about that passage, I will remind you that categorically
He is speaking to His disciples. He is speaking to His true disciples,
the 11 apostles for sure, to whom we’re in His hearing at
this very moment. But it is not just the 11 apostles
to whom He’s speaking. He’s speaking to every true Christian
here. And that’s crucial because in
no way is Jesus saying here, hey, you clean up your act and
I’ll come along and do my part to help you. That is not what
Jesus is saying. It is not as if God is telling
us to save ourselves or sanctify ourselves or make ourselves righteous
so that He will come in, step in and help us. Perhaps you’ve
heard that silly old adage, unbiblical, mind you. God helps those who
help themselves. That’s not what’s going on here.
God does the saving. God always does the saving. God initiates the saving. He
sent His Son to redeem sinners. He employs the Holy Spirit to
awaken us from the sleep of death, bringing us to repentance and
faith. The idea that we can clean up
our lives, live righteously enough to merit God’s favor is pure
heresy. That is not what Jesus is saying
here. He is speaking to true Christians,
to those who have already been saved. As I said a moment ago,
look back at verse 3. where Jesus there issued the
disciples a vital clarification. He tells them, you are already
clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. We called
that a vital clarification, vital because Jesus wanted them to
know that this was not a salvation by works deal. It is purely God’s providence.
that we just happen to be reading along with this incredible chapter,
the book of Galatians, which over and over again has warned
us that there is no salvation by works, that we can never be
justified by our works. It is not a salvation by works
proposition here, as if they needed to get busy cleaning up
their lives. They were already clean. And
that word, as we saw it, is the exact same word used in verse
2. Every branch that bears fruit
he prunes. They are already pruned. They
have already been cleaned off by the pruning process that the
master has applied to the vine and the branches. In other words,
they were already saved. These apostles were already bearing
fruit, and that’s why the father, the vine dresser, was pruning
them, cleaning them. They were already fruit-bearing
Christians, and God wanted them to be able to bear even more
fruit. It’s not salvation by doing good
works, not here, not there, not anywhere. When he says here, Abide in me
and see to it that I abide in you. He is simply telling them
to rise up in the grace of God already given and persevere. Not to save themselves by their
own power. God has not only already done
his part in saving them, he is still doing his part. in sanctifying
them. He is giving them everything
they need. All they have to do is employ
those divine means. Even if we step up to apply the
grace of God, to abide as we are commanded in this passage,
we are only doing that which He has already enabled us to
do, right? It is all God’s grace. Nevertheless,
they must abide. Christ, in order for Christ to
abide in them, they must abide in Him. They must. It’s a command. There’s great responsibility
here. Now, this truth is the same truth urged upon us elsewhere. Would God’s people please turn
to Philippians chapter 2. And if you’ve been in discipleship,
you probably know already where we are going. I’ve already told
of the occupational hazard of having other men lead in the
discipleship, that if they are in tune to the same spirit, reading
the same scriptures that I am, they know very much where I’m
going and have a tendency to want to steal my thunder. Philippians
chapter 2, you know the passage. Look at verse 12. So then, my
beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation. Work out your salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both
to will and to work for His good pleasure. I would say at the
start of this. He is not telling us to work for our salvation,
right? We’re not being told here to
work for our salvation, that we only do enough works, salvation
will be bestowed upon us. It is to work out our salvation,
to bring it about, to seize hold of it by practical means. This
word is one of Paul’s favorite words used at least 20 times
by him and only three times in all of the rest of Scripture.
In Romans 4.15 and 5.3 it means to bring about. It’s translated
there to bring about. In 2 Corinthians 5.5 it’s translated
in the New American Standard as prepared. James 1.3 has it
to produce. And so there is effort here.
There is work, if you will, but we’re not saved by that work.
And what it ultimately points to is the idea of perseverance,
pressing toward the end. Not the idea that we can save
ourselves, not the idea that we can bring about our own salvation.
All we’re doing is cooperating in employing the grace of God
already given. We would say it like this. Because
grace is given, we must work. It’s there. It’s there by God’s
giving. It’s there for the taking. It’s
there to be put to use. And it would be wrong for us
not to reach up and take it and put it to use. This is throughout
scripture, right? This idea It’s replete throughout
Scripture, 2 Corinthians 6, 1. Working together with Him. Now that is either one of the
most audacious statements in all of Scripture, or it is in
concert with what Jesus Himself said. Working together with Him,
we urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Paul says
it likewise in Philippians later on in this epistle. Philippians
3, not that I’ve already obtained it or have already become perfect,
but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which also I
was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Has our salvation been bestowed
to us out of God’s abundant mercy? Absolutely. And yet we press
on, we press forward to lay hold of that which God has already
granted to us. He says the same thing in Ephesians
4. As a result, we’re no longer
to be children tossed here and there by waves. And then in verse
15, we are to grow up. That’s our responsibility. We’re
to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. Later on in that same chapter,
Ephesians chapter 4, we are told to lay aside the old self. That’s us. That’s effort. That’s work, if you would. Lay
aside the old self and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. That’s
us taking hold of the grace of God already granted to us. Paul likewise says to the Colossians,
as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, and you get this idea
of people who, you know, they’ve received Jesus, that’s it. It’s
not what Paul says. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk in Him. That’s us. That’s effort. That’s perseverance in God’s
grace. That’s work. 1 Corinthians 9.24. Run in such
a way that you may win. 1 Timothy 6.12. Fight the good
fight of faith. It doesn’t mean that we accomplish
salvation on our own. It doesn’t mean that we earn
our salvation or secure our salvation by God’s, by our works. God gives us the grace to work. God enables us to glorify Him. God enables us to do what He’s
called us to do. God not only justifies us God
does the process of sanctification, but He gives us the grace to
participate in that. Back, if you would, to John 15. What John is saying here, what
Jesus, rather, is saying, as John records, is that saints,
disciples, it is our responsibility to abide. We must. It is commanded. We are divinely
enabled to abide. We’re given the grace to abide
on the vine. And we are to bear fruit and
glorify God. And if we are going to do that,
it is absolutely necessary that we abide. What does it mean? What does it mean to abide? The word abide is One of the
very favorite words of the Apostle John. It’s used 10 times in this
first 11 verses of this section in John 15. But it goes beyond
that with the Apostle John. Not only does he use it 10 times
in this chapter, he uses it 35 times in this gospel. And another
18 or so in his epistles, accounting for nearly half of the times
that this simple little word, to stay or remain or abide, is
used. It’s a favorite word of John.
We’ve seen it already in John 14. The Father abiding in me
does his works, verse 10. In that day you will know that
I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. Over and over again in this gospel
it has presented itself, but we see it. And we see this concept
fleshed out in John’s first epistle. And so if the saints would turn
there for a moment. 1 John, and we’ll start at chapter
2. And when you begin to see how
often, and we’re not going to look at every verse that it occurs,
in which it occurs in this epistle, but you see John seizing hold
of this idea for which he was present. He was there when Jesus
first used this illustration of abiding on the vine and said,
you know what, that is so good, that is so masterful, that I
am going to use this to its fullness. Every opportunity I have, I’m
gonna lay hold of and use this illustration to the glory of
God. Start, if you would, at verse
24 of chapter 2. 2.24. As for you, let that abide in
you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard
from the beginning abides in you, you will abide in the Son
and in the Father. And so it’s the teaching, it’s
the apostles’ teaching, it’s doctrine, it’s the gospel, all
of those things. That’s what it means to abide,
at least in part, He uses it again multiple times in verses
27 and 28, but turn over to chapter 3 if you would. In chapter 3,
jump down to verse 6. No one who abides in him sins,
not one who sins has seen him or knows him. Now, not one of
us is going to say for a moment that we’re without sin. It’s
the embracing of sin, it’s the dwelling in sin, living in sin,
essentially casting aside our calling in Christ. What does
it mean to abide in Christ? It means to mortify sin, to find
sin, to root it out, to confess it, and to pray for God’s grace
to kill it. Jump down to verse 9, an echo
of the same point that he’s just made. No one who is born of God
practices sin because his seed abides in him. He cannot sin
because he is born of God. And so when we sin, we are convicted
of that sin, we’re told to mortify it, we’re prompted to mortify
it because of the seed, the grace that is already at work in our
lives. Jump down if you would to verses
14 and 15. We know that we have passed out
of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does
not love abides in death. That’s where you really are living.
If you don’t love the brothers and love God, then you’re already
a dead branch abiding in death. Verse 15, everyone who hates
his brother is a murderer and you know no murderer has eternal
life abiding in him. Now John is fleshing this out
to the nth degree here. But he’s not done. Look at verse
24 of that same chapter. He uses it in 17, but jump down
to 24. The one who keeps His commandments
abides in Him. It’s faithfulness. It’s obedience. It’s fruitfulness. The one who
keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in Him. We know
this that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given
to us. If you would, turn to chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. And look at verse
12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides
in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we
abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit that is
one of the proofs of our salvation, echoing what God has done in
our lives. And finally, look at verses 15
and 16. Whoever confesses that Jesus
is the Son of God, God abides in him. That’s where it all starts,
right? It begins with our confession of Christ, whether it was in
the waters of baptism or, you know, ultimately in the waters
of baptism, but perhaps even in just some rudimentary fashion. You know what? I am placing my
faith in Christ. He is my only hope. We have come
to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God
is love and the one who abides in His love abides in God and
God abides in Him. John loved this illustration. John loved this point that Jesus
Christ made, that we are to abide in him. We are to maintain fellowship
with Christ Jesus. If you went back to John’s gospel. This abiding. This. Staying tapped in, if you
will, to the vine as so many branches, that is our calling.
And God says that we have the grace to do it, otherwise He
wouldn’t command it. We are to maintain vital fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only way that we
can be fruitful and productive Christians. As one described
it, it is a continual act by which the Christian sets aside
everything from which he might derive his own wisdom, strength,
or merit, and to draw all from Christ. Don’t trust in your own
wisdom. Don’t trust in your own strength.
It’s Christ. Paul said it likewise, this idea
of abiding, this idea of clinging to Christ and sticking to Christ,
maintaining a vital relationship with Christ, a close, intimate
communion with Christ. Paul said it in Colossians 1,
used to be, you formerly were alienated. But now, if you continue
in the faith firmly established and steadfast, that’s the same
idea. Firmly established and steadfast
and not moved away from the hope, hope of the gospel which you’ve
heard. Pay closer attention, said the Hebrews. Hold fast. What is this abiding? How do
we abide? How do we abide in Christ? We’re
told to abide. We know that it’s a favorite
word of John, but how do we go about applying and appropriating
the grace of God that’s there? He’s told us to do it. We’re
commanded to do it. What do we do? Saints, if we’re
going to abide in Christ, we do it by means of God’s Word.
We do it by means of reading His Word and feasting upon His
Word, knowing and learning more and more about Christ and more
about ourselves, more about our tendencies, more about our sinful
ways, more about the pitfalls that lie out there, more about
the devil who lies in wait, more about God and His abundant providence. We’ve got to be in the Word if
we’re going to abide in Christ. If we’re going to abide in Christ,
we must do so by prayer. On our knees, pleading with God,
pleading with Him to grant to us the grace that is necessary
for each day. We must pray. We must pray for one another.
We must pray for opportunity. We must pray for grace. We must
go before God and plead with Him to grant to us everything
that we need. If we’re going to abide in Christ,
we must be in fellowship. We must be in communion with
Almighty God. And we must be in fellowship
with God’s people. We walk together in this abiding. We work together. We watch out
for one another. We pray for one another. We encourage
one another. We even admonish and correct
one another if necessary. If we’re going to abide, we have
to do so with other branches. sound doctrine. Can we even conceive
of being considered that we were abiding in Christ all the while
holding to all kinds of ridiculous and fanciful ideas about God
and about salvation? This is what gives me such concern
for the greater church in America today where the gospel is so
obscured. It is as if It is as J.I. Packer
said years ago, people find themselves saved before they even realize
they need a savior. If we’re going to abide in Christ,
we must attend. We must attend to what it is
we believe. We must attend to the Word and
to the fruit of the Word, doctrine. There’s a second portion to this
section. We see not only the Christian’s
admonition, and it is a simple admonition, abide in me. And I must abide in you. You
must abide in me and I must abide in you. But there is a second
portion to this section, not only the Christian’s admonition,
but the Christian’s comparison. Look at the end of verse 4. as
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in
the vine, so neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in
me.” Well, by now, the illustration begins to get quite obvious,
doesn’t it? I mean, he told us about this
branch and he told us about this vine dresser and we knew that
there were branches and ultimately, we begin to put the parts together
and we’ve read the thing in full anyway. It’s a vineyard, a choice
vine, a skilled vinedresser, healthy fruit-bearing branches,
and dead, broken, diseased branches, so that the remainder of the
verse really begins to unfold without even saying that just
as dead branches bear no fruit, neither does the individual who
does not abide in Christ. It’s a parable. It’s an allegory. But it’s simple to understand
now. Jesus is speaking to the disciples,
to branches, and he’s now finally getting to the point that all
along he has been building towards. They are associated with the
vine. They are associated with the
choice vine, the finest heirloom vine in the land. Their only
function in association with this vine is to bear fruit. That’s
it. And if they are on this vine,
they will bear fruit. And if they do not remain on
this vine, no amount of water or energy or nutrients will revive
it. It cannot. bear fruit. If we took a clipping, cut off
a branch and plucked it in water, if it survived at all for a week,
it would not bear fruit. And at the end of the day, we
accomplish nothing on our own. It’s all by God’s grace, just
like a vine branch is fruitful only while it’s attached to the
vine. Likewise, as Christians, we can
do nothing. unless we are wholly dependent
on Jesus Christ for whatever it is we’ve been called to do. Every branch that bears fruit,
He prunes so that it may bear more fruit. That fruit we talked about earlier
is the production, it’s the spiritual life. It’s becoming what we were
really made and called to be in the first place. It’s being
restored to our proper functioning as human beings before a holy
God. And as such, we saw that this
points clearly to the fruit of the Spirit, which God is reduplicating
in us, love, joy, peace, patience, and the like. This is the clear
admonition in scripture that we bear fruit. That’s why I said,
if we are on the vine, it’s not hypothetical. It’s not
potential. If we are on the vine, we will
bear fruit. It will be the fruit of righteousness.
It will be ever-increasing, Colossians 1.6. It will be the peaceful
fruit of righteousness. In all of our doings, in all
of our deeds, in all of our speech, we’ll be growing and growing
in grace. We will bear fruit. And this was a crucial message
to the apostles. This was, after all, remember
this entire section is supposed to be an encouragement to these
men who were just rattled to the core. They’re already greatly
troubled at the news of Jesus’ pending departure. And remember,
that’s what Jesus is seeking to calm here in this entire dialogue,
chapter 14 and 15. But they remain troubled. Even
at the end of this gospel, they remain troubled. And John records
their departure back to fishing. They, well nigh, would have reached
up and cut themselves off from the vine. Had they remained in
that condition? But Jesus so mercifully goes,
remember, and rescues them, puts them back, calls them back into
ministry. This is an important message
for the apostles, that they must abide on the vine. But it’s also
an important message for us. We must remain. We must abide
on the vine. If we’re going to do anything,
if we’re going to accomplish anything in our life, and I would
believe that this fruit-bearing touches even our commerce, our
trade, our business, our calling in life. This isn’t just a pastor’s
verse here. This isn’t just a Christianity
verse. This is an all of life verse.
If we are going to be fruitful Christians for Christ, we must
remain on the vine. A.W. Pink pointed out that thousands
of Christians are complaining of barrenness, but they fail
to trace their barrenness to its right source. to the meagerness
of their communion with Christ. They seek faithfulness in activities
often right in themselves, but which, while Christ is unrecognized,
can never yield any fruit. See, we can’t bear fruit apart
from Christ. We have to have a living and
active and vibrant communion with Christ himself. As branches alone trimmed from
the vine, we are dead and lifeless and fruitless and hopeless. There’s a third observation here
in this section. Not only the Christian’s admonition
and the Christian’s comparison, but the Christian’s purpose in
verse 5. the Christian’s purpose, where
Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides
in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me
you can do nothing. And so Jesus says here what has
certainly but only been implied thus far Jesus has implied it,
but it’s only been implied that while he is the vine, his disciples,
all true disciples are the branches. He is the primary source. He
is the vine. Jesus cuts away at all vagueness
and tells them plainly, I am the vine, you are the branches. And I take you back to our consideration
of the vine. that there were two contrasts,
remember? Jesus Christ is the true vine as opposed to all other
images of a vine. A vine growing along a wall,
the fruit of the vine sipped at supper, the common image that
was so frequent on the coins of the day, and that massive
vine at the temple gate. All of those are just images.
Jesus Christ is the true vine. But there was a second contrast. Not only is Jesus Christ the
true vine as opposed to all other kinds of vines, images, Jesus
Christ is a vine. Jesus Christ likens Himself to
a vine. Jesus Christ essentially is the
real thing. Everything else is an illustration
of Him. If we looked at this, that Jesus
Christ is everything to the believer. Jesus Christ is not only the
High Priest, He is our Lamb of God, He is our Lord and Rescuer,
our Redeemer. We looked at all of those ways
that Jesus Christ is everything to the believer. And Jesus Christ cuts away at
all uncertainty here and He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. And as such, they are, the branches
are, we are completely dependent on Him. We saw this already when
we considered the vine. As the vine is everything to
the overall plant, Jesus Christ is everything to the believer.
A branch is nothing. without the vine from which it
grows to which it is attached, the moisture and nutrients bearing
the sap which courses up from the soil, from the roots. It
is the very life of every twig, of every leaf, of every grape,
of every branch. And at once, if even the most
promising branch is broken off or cut off from the vine, it
is ruined. It is utterly worthless. And so saints, now as we peer
over the wall of divine acres, the finest vineyard in the land,
taking in this amazing operation, a skilled craftsman caring for
his choice heirloom vine, we finally behold the purpose of
this operation. Fruit, grapes, Consider the rest
of verse 5. He who abides in me and I in
him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do
nothing. Now, as we said, this has been implied all along. This
is a very basic understanding of the grapevine. The branch
must remain on the vine in order to be fruitful. That’s basic. This is Grapevine 101. But note
the clarity and the promise here in verse 5. He who abides in
me and I in him, and there is the twin truth repeated from
verse 4, he bears much fruit. Did you catch the progression
throughout this entire passage? Go back to verse 1. It just says, Verse 1 says, I checked up, pardon
me, verse 2. Every branch that bears fruit,
he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. And finally here
in verse 5, much fruit. Fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. And that certainly is the desire
of every believer, not just to bear fruit. We want to be of
maximum usefulness to Christ. We want to bear maximum fruitfulness
to Christ to be such a branch, to be so attached, so dependent
upon Christ, so tapped into the true vine that the result of
our lives is fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. And as we’ve already noted, the
apostles, they had already borne fruit. In his gospel records, as do
the other synoptics, that he sent out the apostles. Remember
in this, I mean, they had to be like so many scared rabbits.
Gave them power and authority over the demons to heal diseases,
and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom and perform healing.
They came back. Verse 10 records when the apostles
returned, they gave an account to him of all that they had done.
Taking with them, he withdrew him to, withdrew by himself to
a city called Bethsaida. They came back with fantastic
stories of how they were used by God’s grace. And like them, we, if we are
going to be useful, must remain on the vine, deeply abiding on
the vine as our most vital source of life, nutrients and grace,
strength and energy in this mutual indwelling. Abide in me and I
in you. Fruit-bearing is maximized. That’s what we want, isn’t it?
And this is just the converse of one of our favorite verses
of Scripture. I can do all things through Him
who strengthens me. The converse of that comes at
the end of this passage. Apart from me, you can do nothing. In Christ, we can do anything.
And only in Christ can anything be done. And the very opposite
is true as well. Outside of Christ, nothing worth
doing can even be accomplished. But he issues forth one final
superlative in this amazing passage. Just as Jesus Christ is everything
to the believer, as a vine to a mere branch, So also the natural
results of that relationship. If we would be fruitful, we must
abide on the vine. And the reason given here is
given with stunning clarity. He says, apart from me, you can
do nothing. Do you notice the interplay there?
The tendency of Jesus to just brush aside the metaphor, even
if temporarily, and state the case plainly. Apart from me,
like a branch torn from its vine, apart from me, you can do nothing.
And as I mentioned, this is a superlative. What we have here is the reason
provided. It’s a double negative. Literally,
it would read like this. Because without me, you are not
able to do nothing. That may not be proper English
translation, but as one translated it, you can by no means do anything
without Christ. Nothing that is spiritually good,
and we take into account Judas having just departed, severing
himself from the vine. We take into account the report
of Israel severing itself from Christ there in Romans 11. No
wonder as one pastor said, no figure, no illustration or allegory
or parable could more forcibly express the complete dependence
of the believer on Christ. For all fruit-bearing A branch
cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide on the vine. In itself,
it has no resources. In union with the vine, it is
provided with life. Without the grace of God, without
abiding on the vine of Christ, it doesn’t matter what we do.
It’s worthless. But if we are in the vine, we
will bear fruit. And the fruit will be of that
choice vine. That fruit will be the finest
in the land because it will be directly a result of the vine
itself. Would God’s people humble themselves
before Him? Our merciful God, we thank You
so much for this illustration that Christ provided, not only
for those 11, but for all time, for us. And Lord, we see that
if we are to accomplish anything, we must abide in Christ. We must stay connected to him
in prayer and in his word and in fellowship with his people.
Lord, we pray that in us and through us, you would bear much
fruit, that you would produce in us glorious opportunities
and believers and great accomplishments for the sake of your kingdom.
Lord God, we pray all of these things as you examine our hearts.
And we pray, Father, that if there are any who are not fruit-bearing,
that they would examine their lives and see whether it is they
are even trying to abide in Christ. If they are not in Christ, bring
them to repentance, we pray. Lord, if they If they must make
adjustments as most of us do, we do pray that you would seize
hold of us and make us to be those who abide richly on the
vine of Christ to bring forth the fruit that is your do. It’s in Jesus name that we pray.
Amen.